IP Library › Granted Patent US 9,959,591
Granted Patent B2
US 9,959,591 · App. 14/719,985 · Granted May 1, 2018

Display apparatus, method for controlling display apparatus, and program

Inventors: Kaori Sendai (Okaya, JP); Atsunari Tsuda (Suwa, JP); Masahide Takano (Matsumoto, JP)
Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
G06T1/60G02B27/0172G06F3/011G06F3/012G06F3/017G06T11/00H04N13/044G02B2027/0178G06F2200/1636G06F2203/04806
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,959,591
App. No.
14/719,985
Granted
May 1, 2018
Kind
B2
Abstract

A head mounted display is worn on the body of a user before use and includes an image display unit that transmits an outside scene and displays an image in a visually recognizable manner along with the outside scene and a camera that performs image capturing in directions of sight lines of the user. A control section of the head mounted display includes an image generation section that generates a display image from a captured image from the camera and an image display control section that causes the image display unit to display the display image generated by the image generation section.

Claims (62)

1. A head-mountable display apparatus that is configured to be able to be worn on a head of a user, the head-mountable display apparatus comprising:

a display that displays an image in a visually recognizable manner superimposed on outside real world scenery;

a camera that performs image capturing along directions of sight lines of the user; and

a processor programmed to:

cause the camera to capture an image;

detect, in the captured image, a target object;

detect a distance between the detected target object and the head-mounted display apparatus;

generate a display image from the captured image by cutting out, from the captured image, an area containing the detected target object, and enlarging, based on the detected distance, the cut out area containing the detected target object, wherein the generated display image is an enlarged version of the area containing the detected target object cut out of the captured image; and

control the display to display the generated display image superimposed on the outside real world scenery, wherein the display image and the outside real world scenery are live view.

2. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

detect a state in which the head-mountable display apparatus is used, and

adjust a form of the display image in accordance with the detected state.

3. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

detect a position of the head-mountable display apparatus, and

adjust a form of the display image in accordance with the detected position.

4. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is further programmed to: adjust at least one of a display position of the display image and a display size of the display image in such a way that the display image is displayed on the display separate from the center of the directions of the sight lines of the user in correspondence with the detected position.

5. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

detect an action of the user based on captured image data from the camera, and

adjust a form of the display image in accordance with the detected action of the user.

6. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

detect a voice, and

adjust a form of the display image in accordance with the detected voice.

7. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

detect an action of the user based on captured image data from the camera, and

generate the display image by extracting, from the captured image, an area identified based on the detected action of the user and processing the extracted area.

8. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to: generate the display image by cutting out an area that satisfies a preset condition in the captured image.

9. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

identify directions corresponding to the directions of the sight lines of the user; and

detect, in the captured image, a target object present in the directions of the sight lines of the user, as the detected target object.

10. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further programmed to: detect the directions of the sight lines of the user and detect the target object present in the detected directions of the sight lines of the user.

11. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further programmed to: detect a direction of a sight line of an eye corresponding to a dominant eye of the user.

12. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is further programmed to: when the detected action of the user is a predetermined action, identify the directions corresponding to the directions of the sight lines of the user based on the predetermined action.

13. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is further programmed to: when the detected action is an action of at least one of limbs of the user, identify the directions corresponding to the directions of the sight lines of the user based on the detected action.

14. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

store, in a memory, an amount of feature of the target object, and

detect the target object by detecting an image that conforms to the amount of feature of the target object stored in the memory from the captured image.

15. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

generate the display image by enlarging the area containing the detected target object in accordance with an enlargement factor associated with the detected distance.

16. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to: generate the display image by acquiring a plurality of images captured by the camera at different points of time and specifying an area that satisfies a preset condition in the plurality of captured images.

17. A method for controlling a head-mountable display apparatus that is configured to be able to be worn on a head of a user, the method comprising:

performing image capturing, by a camera of the head-mountable display apparatus, along directions of sight lines of a user;

detecting, by a processor of the head-mounted display apparatus, a target object in a captured image;

detecting, by the processor, a distance between the detected target object and the head-mounted display apparatus;

generating, by the processor, a display image from the captured image by cutting out an area, from the captured image, containing the detected target object, and enlarging, based on the detected distance, the cut out area containing the detected target object, wherein the generated display image is an enlarged version of the area containing the detected target object cut out of the captured image; and

controlling, by the processor, the display to display the generated display image superimposed on outside real world scenery, wherein the display image and the outside real world scenery are live view.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a computer-executable program that, when executed by a head-mounted display device, causes the head-mounted display device to:

cause a camera of the head-mountable display apparatus to capture an image along directions of sight lines of a user;

detect, in the captured image, a target object;

detect a distance between the detected target object and the head-mounted display apparatus;

generate a display image from the captured image by cutting out, from the captured image, an area containing the detected target object, and enlarging, based on the detected distance, the cut out area containing the detected target object, wherein the generated display image is an enlarged version of the area containing the detected target object cut out of the captured image; and

control a display of the head-mountable display apparatus to display the generated display image superimposed on outside real world scenery, wherein the display image and the outside real world scenery are live view.

19. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the detected target object is a target object that satisfies a predetermined condition under which the processor cuts out the area containing the detected target object.

20. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

determine a size of the area cut out from the captured image based on a display size, which is a resolution or number of image dots, in accordance with which the display image is displayed in displayable areas of the display and an associated enlargement factor; and

perform the enlargement step by converting the size of the area cut out from the captured image in accordance with the display size.

21. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store:

enlargement factor setting data, which relates distances to detected target objects to enlargement factors.

22. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to: not allow generation or display of the display image when the distance to the detected target object is shorter than a preset distance.

23. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:

detect a direction of a sight line of the user; and

detect the target object present in the detected direction of the sight line of the user.

24. The head-mountable display apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further programmed to: detect a direction of a sight line of the user based on a detected sight line of an eye corresponding to a dominant eye of eyes of the user.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 22, 2015
From: SENDAI, KAORI; TSUDA, ATSUNARI; TAKANO, MASAHIDE
To: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 036007/0219 →
Priority Claims (2)
JP 2014-156697 · Jul 31, 2014 · national
JP 2015-039766 · Mar 2, 2015 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20160035136A1 · Feb 4, 2016